An Overview of the First Organic Shrimp Model in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Abstract

Organic agriculture has developed rapidly and become a trend worldwide recently in the context of increasing demands for cleaner products [1,2]. In aquaculture sector, organic shrimp models are introduced in which shrimps and mangroves are raised in the same farms in a near-natural environment [3-5]. These models have been developed in the coastal areas of many countries in the tropics, such as Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, and Vietnam [3,6-8]. In general, shrimps are raised in polyculture systems without using antibiotics and chemicals, and with special emphasis on the protection of mangrove forests and mangrove ecosystems [9]. Shrimps harvested from the models are examined and certified as ‘organic shrimp’ by several organizations such as the Ecocert (France), IMO Institute of Market Ecology (Switzerland), National Programme for Organic Production (India), and Japanese Agricultural Organic Standard (Japan). With the rising health and environmental awareness of global consumers, these models are expected to grow faster in the near future [10,11].